Witness in fatal hit-and-run case recants previous testimony

By ALEX ROSE

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

MEDIA COURTHOUSE -- The girlfriend of a Chester man on trial this week for the December 2011 hit-and-run deaths of two 15-year-old boys recanted testimony she had given at a preliminary hearing putting Maurquis Javon Thompson at the scene.

Angela Potter, 21, said she was threatened with perjury and conspiracy to murder charges if she did not go along with a statement she gave Detective Robert Lythgoe on Dec. 9, 2011, the night of the accident.

According to that statement, Thompson called Potter that night and told her he had struck someone while evading police.

"He said he was about to be pulled over, so he panicked and tried to get away," according to the statement. "He said he hit someone and he ran."

Thompson is facing two counts of third-degree murder and related charges for allegedly running down Academy Park High School freshmen Michael Taylor and Mark McNeill at the intersection of Chester Pike and Glenolden Avenue in Glenolden. Taylor was pronounced dead at the scene at about 9:40 p.m. McNeil died the following day at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.

Potter's 1995 Chevrolet Lumina was found abandoned at Chester Pike and Cleveland Avenue in Norwood. Norwood Police Officer Dennis Daly testified he found the unoccupied vehicle, which appeared to have a baggie of marijuana inside.

Thompson was apprehended just a few blocks from the car by Norwood Cpl. Christopher Kennedy.

Assistant District Attorney Geoff Paine played portions of two recorded conversations for the jury Tuesday. In the first, Potter mentions that she "could not get around" what she said in her initial statement. In the other, Thompson is heard describing being pulled over.

Potter had initially told police she received a text from Thompson telling her to report the car missing. When Tinicum Police Sgt. James Simpkins arrived at the Denny's in Norwood to take that report, however, he said he could tell Potter was scared and lying.

Potter went with Simpkins to the Folcroft Police Department, where she gave a statement to Lythgoe indicating she knew Thompson had her car and that he had been smoking marijuana that day. She testified at a preliminary hearing in March 2012 that the statement was true.

But Potter told defense attorney Earl Raynor Tuesday that Lythgoe had done all of the writing on the statement and that she merely "skimmed it" before signing it. She said Lythgoe and Assistant District Attorney Elise Bradley had also bullied her with threats of prosecution before the preliminary hearing.

Lythgoe denied ever threatening Potter and said Potter never told him the statement was inaccurate.

Also testifying Tuesday was Caitlyn Parsons, a Chester Pike resident who said Thompson arrived at her home that night out of breath, looking to make a phone call.

Parsons said she saw Thompson's car at the corner of Cleveland Avenue and Chester Pike, but no police were on the scene yet. Parsons said she recognized the vehicle as belonging to Thompson because she had previously seen him driving it.

Kennedy also testified that he saw a man fitting the description of the driver walking suspiciously down Winona Avenue toward Chester Pike.

Kennedy, who was in plain clothes and driving an unmarked car, said he stopped Thompson in front of the Erin Pub and noticed he was sweaty and out of breath.